Ed Herman withdraws from UFC 209 with an injury

In a few short weeks, the UFC will return to glimmering Las Vegas, Nevada with UFC 209.

This anticipated card will be headlined by a welterweight title rematch between champion Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley, and challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. The co-main event, meanwhile, will pit the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov against the streaking Tony Ferguson in an interim lightweight title fight. Elsewhere on the card, we’ll be treated to a heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt, a lightweight scrap between Lando Vannata and David Teymur, and the middleweight debut of Rashad Evans, who will take on Australia’s Dan Kelly.

Needless to say, UFC 209 is an excellent looking card. Unfortunately, it has recently been dealt a bit of a minor blow, as one of its many intriguing undercard bouts has been scrapped due to a fighter injury.The injured fighter in this case is the veteran Ed Herman. Herman, who used to compete at middleweight, was scheduled to meet Croatia’s Igor Pokrajac in a light heavyweight fight.

Herman announced his injury and resulting withdrawal from the UFC 209 bill on his official twitter account.

https://twitter.com/EdHermanufc/status/833775995945574400

As Herman points out, this is the first time he’s ever pulled out of a UFC fight with an injury. It is not known, however, what kind of injury he sustained.

When we last saw the Oregon native in action, he was knocked out by a Nikita Krylov head-kick. Prior to that loss, he made a successful return to the light heavyweight division with a thunderous, knee induced knockout of the notoriously durable Tim Boetsch. His most recent fight before that occurred at middleweight, where he was stopped by Derek Brunson.

Pokrajac, meanwhile, has not been seen in the cage since April of 2016. In his last fight, which occurred in his native Croatia, he was defeated by Polish light heavyweight Jan Blachowicz. His three most recent bouts before that, which occurred outside the Octagon, were all stoppage wins.

Were you excited to see Ed Herman back in the cage at UFC 209? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/21/2017.